Unorthodox Love
by Dearly Loveless
Summary: Eiji finds himself in love with Oishi and denies it.


**Title:** Unorthodox Love  
**Author:** Dearly Loveless  
**Fandom:** Prince of Tennis  
**Pairing:** OishixEiji (Golden Pair), a bit of TezuxFuji  
**Genre:** Romance/Drama  
**Rating:** PG  
**Word Count:** 1,635  
**Status:** Complete  
**Summary:** Eiji finds himself in love with Oishi and tries to deny it.  
**Disclaimer:**I don't own Prince of Tennis.  
**Note: **It's not REALLY a crossover ... but why doesn't have Prince of Tennis! > Sorry everyone...

Love was on of the words in Kikumaru Eiji's word bank that did not make any sense to him whatsoever. First off, he didn't know the definition of the word. Did such word even _have _a definition? Or was it just a bunch of words lumped together to give the word a "meaning"? Secondly, why did people live on its principles? Why did everyone feel like they had to have love in their lives to complete it? Eiji was completely happy without love, whatever it was. Sure, he had dated a girl once, but he really hadn't felt anything phenomenal. In truth, he really didn't want to break the poor girl's heart by rejecting her. She turned out not to be interested after a while, though, and he had forgotten about the whole thing. It was a trivial little thing … nothing at all like love, whatever it was.

If anything, he had always felt a tug when he saw his doubles partner, Oishi Syuichirou—always wishing to be around him, wanting to play tennis with him, wanting to spend almost every minute with him. They were opposites, yes, but they completed each other in a way. Oishi's calm and collected personality made up for Eiji's obnoxious and loud one.

And then against his will, Eiji fell in love—him, of all people. He didn't, however, acknowledge it as love. How could he feel something he didn't understand? Therefore, he called it obsession. It never even occurred to him that he could love—no. Such a pitiful word, really.

One afternoon, Eiji stepped into the deserted locker room. His eyes fell on the bulletin board near the lockers instantly. It was the next tournament's doubles pairs along with who'll play the singles.

"Looks like our Ochibi-chan will be playing the third singles," he muttered to himself. "And look, Oishi and I are paired up again…"

Like that was a surprise. They were always together. That's why they were called the Golden Pair.

The red-headed tennis player sank on the ground, grabbing his own hair from the roots. What the hell was wrong with him? Why did he feel so different now? Nothing had changed, exactly … except that now whenever he caught a sight of Oishi, he lost it all. Physically, he tried to hide it, but wasn't successful at all times. There were times he became extremely jumpy and even someone calling his name would scare the crap out of him. Other times, he would lose his obnoxiousness and just sit quietly in a corner away from everybody else. He couldn't get his partner's face out of his head, and sometimes he would even dream about Oishi, which hurt him even more; he'd wake up in the middle of the night with a deep feeling of agony and longing, wishing that he had never woken up in the first place.

But playing tennis alongside Oishi did the trick most of the time. Eiji would take out all his anger, all his frustration of the world out on his opponent. And oddly, his skills had improved far more than anyone could imagine in such a short time. And it was probably the only thing that kept Eiji from going insane—

"Eiji!"

Stunned, Eiji raised his head to find Oishi's oval face gaping at him from the doorway. What a beautiful face it was! The young boy couldn't help but stare at it. "You're late," Oishi's voice boomed form what seemed like miles away. "Ryuzaki-sensei is looking all over for you. She wants to talk to you."

Panic and bewilderment rose is Eiji's chest as he heard Oishi's words; could she … possibly know anything?

Obviously seeing the anxiety on Eiji's face, Oishi smiled and said, "Worry doesn't suit you, Eiji. I'll come with you, if you want. I can wait." At this, Eiji's heart skipped a beat, but he maintained his attitude. There was no way he could let Oishi see right through him—especially not him.

He set down his tennis equipment near his cubicle and started unbuttoning his school uniform patiently. He could consequentially feel Oishi's eyes piercing right through him; Eiji closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh. Suppressing all his feelings was killing him. His feelings were so unacceptable, so unorthodox.

"You feeling okay, Eiji?"

Eiji turned around and beamed, holding up his fingers like a V. "Hoi, hoi!"

Yes … he just had to try to be normal as always. Maybe this would just pass.

As soon as they were out of the locker rooms, Eiji started feeling better. Although there was something missing still, he was at least able to laugh and joke around with Oishi like he always did.

"Ryuzaki-sensei," Oishi said attentively. "Here's Kikumaru."

"Ahhhhh," the coach smiled and Eiji noticed for the first time how old she really was. She was usually tolerant of everything and wore a shrewd smile. Her characteristics really did masterfully disguise the wrinkles on her face. "Arigatou, Syuichirou-kun. You can join the rest of your teammates with the warm-up drill, if you will."

As soon as Oishi was out of earshot, Coach Ryuzaki put her arms around the red-headed boy in a motherly way. "Eiji-kun," she said softly, "in my life, I've seen a lot of people playing tennis. They all seem to follow the same path…"

Eiji looked at her with that confused look on his face whenever someone told him something he didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you've really advanced far this season," she explained. "And we're all really amazed, yet proud. So, whatever you're doing, keep up the good work."

"H-hai!"

"Now, is there something bothering you?"

He looked away from her face and shot a glance at Oishi some distance away. _Of course there's something wrong_, he thought miserably, _I have feelings for a guy that I can't have. But how can I possibly tell her that?_

"Sensei…" he began hesitantly.

"Does this have anything to do with Syuichirou-kun?"

Eiji's eyes grew wide from shock and he stopped dead in his tracks. How could she _possibly _know that? Was he _that _obvious?

"That's it, isn't it?" she said perspicaciously, patting her student's back lightly. "Then, don't you think you should talk to him? Maybe he can solve your problem for you."

Eiji looked up at his coach optimistically, his eyes sparkling. "You think he would? You think he'd understand!"

"It's worth a try, isn't it?"

"Arigatou gozaimas sensei!" Eiji gave his coach a little bow and started dashing across the courts to join his teammates enthusiastically. He would have thought that she would scold him for all this. Did that mean that his feelings were acceptable to the world? And had had just been mistaken before?

"Kikumaru!" Tezuka yelled. "You're late. Ten laps around the courts, everyone!"

Everyone groaned and shot Eiji dirty looks. He laughed uneasily as he scratched the back of his head, saying, "Gomen, gomen…"

At this moment, Inui towered over everyone with a glass of a despicable liquid in his hand. "Or," he smiled darkly, "you can enjoy a nice cool glass of my newly improved Vegetable Remix."

Within an hour, there was not a soul on the tennis courts still standing. All the regulars were on sprawled on the court, panting. The power of not drinking Inui's juice had worked out perfectly. Eiji collapsed on a nearby bench along with Oishi, trying to catch his breath.

"Say Oishi," he murmured in his childish voice.

His partner raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Have you ever been in love?"

"That's a peculiar question. Why do you ask?"

"I onno. Lately, I've been feeling weird."

"You think it's love?"

"I don't know what to think."

"Well," Oishi said, looking at the sky above, "you'll know you're in love when you want the person you love to be happy, even if they can't be with you. You'll want to die for him."

"Boy," Eiji said, feeling a poison course through his body. "You _are_ in love, aren't you? Who's the lucky girl, nya?"

"Oi, what makes you think it's a girl, huh? It's none of your business!"

"Oishiiiii, why are you acting like this? I didn't mean to offend you…"

That seemed to calm Oishi down. He sank back on the bench and continued sadly, "I don't recommend it. Don't fall in love. It's a mess…"

"Have you talked to the person?" Eiji heard himself asking.

"Why would I?" Oishi said in a hurt voice. "I've known him for a long time and I don't think that matters either…"

"Yeah, like waking up from a dream you wish would happen in real life…" Eiji trailed off.

"Exactly," Oishi said, on a roll now. "Or like seeing him everyday and even playing doubles with him all the time, but then suppressing all the feelings you have for him behind a mask—"

"Oishi?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you love me?"

"Maybe a little too much."

Eiji scooted in closer to Oishi and said softly, laying his hand on top of Oishi's a bit timidly. "I'll never understand love."

The dark-haired boy squeezed his partner's hand. "I'll never either."

Twenty feet away, Ryuzaki Sumire smirked, watching the Golden Pair shine from her office window.

"And what were you planning to do," Tezuka's calm voice came from behind her, "if your plan didn't work out?"

She grinned widely, "Kunimitsu-kun, you underestimate me. My plans always work."

"Is that so?"

Seigaku's coach laughed heartily once again. "Really, Tezuka, you don't trust me at all. Do you think Fuji Syusuke would have confessed to you at all if I hadn't planned it out first?"

"Ryuzaki-sensei…" Tezuka hung his head, trying to keep his patience.

She stared out the window again, waving the sentence away with her hand. "Yeah, yeah. You'll thank me later."


End file.
